so he basically, even though he's not terrible sympathetic with assad politically, assad staying in power is very important for maliki's domestic politics because he fears a takeover by the rebels would actually lead to rebellion fact. the message from kerry was pretty tough. that congress is losing patience with iraq and that maliki will not have any role in the political decisions to come once assad falls with this pll political transition being worked out with international leaders, if he continues to help iran prop up assad. >> there are reports also that the head of the syrian opposition coalition reports that he resigned this post at some point today. what do we know about that, and what kind of complications could that present for the united states and its allies? >> reporter: it is a complication, because he quit today. it was not unexpected, said kerry. not surprising, but he said he felt sad about it, because he felt personally connected to him. he liked him a lot. this is the man with whom kerry met only a few weeks ago in rome arguing that he should accept non-lethal aid, trai